In 1950, a lady named Marjorie Stewart moved to Exmouth from Winscombe in Somerset.  She had a cunning plan to ensure that friends and former neighbours kept in touch, writes Terry Dowrick.

She commissioned a trophy in the form of a silver inkstand for which Winscombe Bowling Club and Exmouth Madeira BC were to compete each year. The fixture has continued for some 70 years with the struggle for the Inkstand Trophy now, to some, only marginally less significant than rivalry over the Ashes!

Against this background, a gallant band of Madeira’s men ventured north to Somerset on Monday to defend their hold on the trophy they had won last year.

The natives proved friendly and hospitable but lay in wait with a steely determination to regain the Inkstand. At the halfway stage Madeira were still in with a squeak, but in the second half the wheels came off. 

A splendid rearguard action by Denis Huntley, Ian Harvey and skip Martin Langford winning 22-15, with support from one other winning Madeira rink, did little to stem the tide.  Winscombe swept the board on the remaining five rinks to take the match by a score of 148 - 101 and secure the trophy.

The overall score over 70 years now stands, intriguingly, at 35 matches each.

Then, in counterpart for women bowlers, the Pomeroy Trophy. Madeira achieved a positive shot difference on six of their seven rinks, including an impressive plus 10 tally by skip Jenny Smith with Margaret Mahon and Gloria Taylor.

Sadly, however, the only visiting team to have a positive score, the sharpshooters of Exonia, were found to have swept aside all comers to take the trophy with a shot score of plus 16. 

On the same day, judges from The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and Exmouth in Bloom were shown around by Madeira’s volunteer Head Gardener, Joy Penberthy. 

Finally, the quarter and semi-finals of the Croft Triples were played on Sunday in blustery conditions.  It was encouraging to see more than a few newer members, graduates of Chris Reed’s coaching programme, taking part. Special mention goes to the trio of Owen Haywood, Clive Dalton and Jon Lee-Smith who ran their seasoned opponents close, taking them to a sudden-death extra end before bowing out.